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Yet another venerable member of the legion of incredible South African bulbs. This one likes it arid and with as little frost as can be managed, but it isn't uncommon to see them in pot culture among xeric specialists, just bring them indoors when they are in their winter dormancy. Incredibly uniquely textured leaves ridged and bumpy like some kind of exotic lizard in muted tones of purple-brown. The flowers provide quite the contrast to the dour prehistoric foliage, happy little candelabras of candy-floss pink!

A collection of this striking Baja endemic mint relative by FRBC board member Cody Hinchliff. A tower of felty, silver-green, arrowhead shaped leaves erupts into a spire of hot pink tubular flowers in autumn provided great late-season pollinator food. Foliage stays evergreen in very mild climates but for us dies back, leaving its well root hardy nether regions to rest until spring.  Both leaves and flowers smell of a fruity cleanser, with the flowers being thankfully heavier on the former, darn I was hoping for a whiff of Baja Blast. Extremely drought tolerant and happy in a sunny well-drained spot.

Yet another of diverse and headachingly difficult to identify genus that love but doesn't love us back (at least taxonomically). The dark, opaque, and serrately margined rhizome scales have led us to believe it belongs in the section pseudovittaria where the publication helpfully states species delimitation is particularly difficult. Whatever the species it is an attractive small evergreen species that grows epiphytically in the wild and while spreading by rhizome tends to form a nice tight clump overall. The fronds start off broader and slightly twisted but become thin and much more upright as the sori develop. This has proved hardy for us thus far in the tufa wall housed in our collector's garden and has drawn the particular admiration of a few very knowledgeable local fern fanatics.

A Far Reaches Botanical Conservancy Offering

Fern fans we are, fern experts we are not, but we continue to chip away at the imposing taxonomic massif of Pteridophyta in hopes of becoming somewhat conversational in Fern. Currently, we can ask the equivalent of where the restroom is and order beer when talking Asian ferns. This is a creeping fern with long, thin rhizomes ideally suited for weaving through shallow moss on shaded rock faces with small orbicular-ovate evergreen leaves. This has been extremely hardy for us for years in our shade garden, and should fare well in lower zones as well given that Acer griseum was growing nearby.

(Apologies for the second change in species, the limits of species in this group of Lepisorus aren't fully clear, and L. pyriformis having been only recently published is not included in the Flora of China though it fits better than the previously used L. rostratus)

A deciduous shrub that can be treated as a perennial or a woody perennial with the form and firepower of a flowering shrub depending on your clime. Each year the pithy arching stems rocket up to human heights and explode into a cascade of pink pea flowers. A worthy addition to a perennial border or to add a floral punch in a space where evergreens are the winter showpiece. Plus, I must say its a pleasure at cut-back time with its neat arrangement and satisfying woody crack. Can be a bit aggressive in the warmer climes of the Southeast.